Stewart Airport set to pass 400,000 passengers in 2011

STEWART AIRPORT — Port Authority figures show Stewart International Airport is on pace to rack up its best passenger numbers in three years.

BY MICHAEL RANDALL

STEWART AIRPORT — Port Authority figures show Stewart International Airport is on pace to rack up its best passenger numbers in three years.

Mike Torelli, Port Authority manager of Property and Business Development at Stewart, told the Stewart Airport Commission of the figures at its bi-monthly meeting Tuesday.

Torelli said that through October, 347,110 passengers went through the airport.

That leaves Stewart 52,890 passengers shy of the 400,000 level that's eluded the airport the past two years, with two months to go. Stewart has topped 30,000 passengers in both November and December the past three years, and Torelli said if that pace continues, the 400,000-passenger goal will be easily surpassed.

That would give Stewart its best numbers since 2008, when it recorded 779,797 passengers. That was a considerable drop from 2007's 893,105 and was due to the financial crisis and its impact on air travel: AriTran left Stewart in September that year, Skybus folded several months after launching service at Stewart, and the remaining airlines all cut back on the number of flights they offered.

Stewart fell short of 400,000 by less than 10,000 in 2009 and less than 5,000 last year.

Cargo volume also is on the rise at Stewart.

Torelli said through October, 13,262 tons of cargo was handled at Stewart. That means Stewart already has exceeded last year's total of 12,925 tons. Cargo is flown on FedEx and UPS flights as well as in the belly of JetBlue passenger planes.

"We hope to hit 15,000 (tons) for the year," Torelli said. That, too, would be the best since 2008, when Stewart handled 17,457 tons of cargo.

Tonnage figures fell off after DHL discontinued domestic service early in 2009, but the other carriers have picked up much of the slack.